Leader of Islamic State group killed in Afghanistan

US and Afghan officials have confirmed that Abdul Hasib, the leader of the so-called "Islamic State" group in Afghanistan, was killed during a joint operation by soldiers from the two countries.

Abdul Hasib took command of the extremist group last year after the killing of Hafiz Saeed, the former leader of ISIS in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Hafiz Saeed was killed in a US drone strike in Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, last summer. The new leader of ISIS was also targeted in a raid by Afghan and US special forces in the same province last month.

A joint statement from the US and Afghan armed forces said that 50 US special forces and 40 Afghan commandos attacked Abdul Hasib's location.

Part of the statement reads, "A few minutes after landing, the joint forces faced heavy fire from several sides, from well-prepared trenches... However, our forces managed to surround the enemy and eliminate a number of senior ISIS members and up to 35 members of the group."

Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has also confirmed the killing of Abdul Hasib.

American forces have been engaged in combat with members of the so-called Islamic State group in the Nangarhar region for several months. Nangarhar province has become a major center of ISIS presence and its movements against government forces.

It was in this province last April that the United States used the world's largest non-nuclear bomb to bomb areas controlled by the Islamic State, an attack that killed more than 90 people and which the United States says was carried out in support of Afghan National Security Forces.

Source: Radio Farda